The Eolian Harp (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- First Published: 1796
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Nature, Music or musicians, Rural or country life, God, England or English people, Christianity, Creative process, Romanticism, Wind
The Poem
“The Eolian Harp” is a lyric poem written in blank verse paragraphs of varying lengths. The title refers to a stringed instrument which produces music when placed in an open window so that the breeze may pass over it. The eolian harp was commonly used by poets in the Romantic period as a metaphor for the creative process.
The poem begins with the persona, who is clearly Samuel Taylor Coleridge himself, addressing his wife, Sara. They are sitting affectionately together outside their cottage in Clevedon, in the English county of Somersetshire. It is a quiet...
[The entire page is 1525 words long]
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